November 14, 2006

On Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, like a vassal from olden days, came to Washington to kiss the emperor’s ring.

At a White House meeting with Bush, Olmert bent way over to lay one on the President.

Here’s what Olmert said:

“We in the Middle East have followed the American policy in Iraq for a long time, and we are very much impressed and encouraged by the stability which the great operation of America in Iraq brought to the Middle East,” he said.

Stability?

What’s he talking about?

Bush’s policy in Iraq has brought chaos and destruction and hundreds of thousands of deaths.

But when you go visit your paymaster, you better not mention any of that.

Bush returned the favor, saying of Olmert, who waged a reckless war of his own against Lebanon and who just got finished washing his hands of the Beit Hanoun massacre, that he “cares deeply about securing the peace.”

Behind this mutual admiration society lies a perceived convergence of interest, as well as some bizarre political bedfellows.

As The New York Times reports, rightwing evangelicals have been lobbying the Bush Administration to back Israel’s every move. Supporting Israel, they say, is “God’s foreign policy.”

Funny, I didn’t even know he had one.

These evangelicals support Israel because they believe it is heralding the End Times, when Jews will have to make a delicate choice: either convert or die.

That Israel welcomes such supporters is the very definition of shortsightedness.